Ukrainian Armed Forces captured an Egyptian mercenarie — how he ended up in Russian army

Russia continues to recruit foreign mercenaries for "meat raids" on the front in Ukraine. One of them, an Egyptian citizen, was captured by Ukraine.

The story shared by Donbass Realities.

Foreign mercenaries in the Russian army

In the Kurakhove sector, foreign mercenaries are most often seen among the occupiers. According to the Ukrainian military, foreign mercenaries are so frightened that they are often "more afraid of their commanders than of dying". The Russian army uses harsh coercive measures against them.

Thus, the defenders captured one of them — a 25-year-old Egyptian citizen. He fell into the hands of Ukrainian soldiers near the village of Peremohy near Mariinka, in the Donetsk region.

He said that the task of his group was to get to the site, get a foothold and stay there. But after sitting there under fire for two days, they decided to surrender.

"There was no communication, no water, nothing. So we surrendered. We said, "Guys, we surrender". And no one on the other side responded. A Ukrainian guy said: "If you see a drone, follow it"x. And that's what we did," said the Egyptian.

The moment was captured on video: it shows Russian artillery firing on the group during the surrender, killing two mercenaries. 

How an Egyptian citizen got to the front

According to the detainee, he studied at a language faculty in Russia. On March 3 this year, he signed a contract with the army because his visa had expired.

"I finished my third year, and only the last one was left. I read on the Internet that according to the law, if you are not a Russian citizen, they cannot send you to the so-called Special Military Operation," the man said.

However, after signing the contract, he was sent to the front. He recalled that he refused to go to war, but without his knowledge he had already been granted Russian citizenship in order to be sent to Ukraine.

The 25-year-old man was put into a KAMAZ truck and taken to a training ground, and then sent in the direction of Kurakhiv for an attack.

"Honestly, we are meat. If you don't want to go on a mission, they can shoot you, they can put you in a pit. They lock you in the pit, you can't see anything. I know a man who was in a pit for three weeks," he added.

Earlier, the Main Intelligence Directorate published evidence that Russia sent Syrian mercenaries to the Luhansk region for "meat raids". 

Reuters also wrote that the Russian Defense Ministry is silent about the fate of the Wagner mercenaries who went to fight in Africa after Bakhmut, and is ignoring the relatives of the Wagner men who went missing.